Millions of people around the world make daily use of various computing and communication devices. Many of these devices can be accurately characterized as being wireless-communication devices (WCDs), in that they are equipped and configured such that they are able to engage in wireless forms of communication directly with one another and/or via various wireless networks. Examples of commonly used WCDs include cell phones, smartphones, tablets, notebook computers, laptop computers, and the like. The wireless networks—via which these WCDs engage in wireless communication—typically operate according to one or more relatively long-range wireless-communication protocols (e.g., Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and the like), one or more relatively short-range wireless-communication protocols (e.g., Wi-Fi and the like), and/or one or more land mobile radio (LMR) protocols (e.g., European Telecommunications Standards Institute Digital Mobile Radio (ETSI-DMR), Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), APCO Project 25 (P25), Digital Mobile Radio (DMR), and the like).
To verify certain levels of network performance—as to metrics such as data throughput and the like, operators of wireless networks often conduct performance-verification testing (a.k.a. “coverage acceptance testing”) at various locations within the coverage footprint of their respective networks. If conducted using a vehicle, such testing is often referred to as “drive testing” a wireless network. It is often the case, however, that the actual channel conditions present during testing (i.e., the “testing-scenario channel conditions”) do not match the channel conditions that were assumed and/or expected when a given testing plan was made (i.e., the “testing-plan channel conditions”). Accordingly, there is a need for methods and systems for emulating testing-plan channel conditions in wireless networks.
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The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.